Producer's daughter drops The King's Speech Oscar

It was an awards bash to remember as Simon Egan's 15-month-old child damages his Academy award

Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, producers of The King's Speech, hold their Oscars for best picture – perhaps co-producer Simon Egan should have held on more tightly to his award. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

It is one of the cast-iron rules of the Academy Awards that disaster must follow triumph, that the shine must come off the statue and that the morning after is never quite so wonderful as the night before. For evidence look no further than the cautionary tale of Simon Egan, co-producer of The King's Speech, who rashly entrusted his Oscar to his infant daughter Lara. She promptly dropped it.

Catastrophe struck at an awards party in Hollywood, just hours after The King's Speech had scooped the crowning awards. Lara, 15 months, was clasping the statue when he slipped from her grasp and clattered on the concrete. "We rushed over to look at the damage and saw a bashed head and gold plating fallen off the chest, a damaged shoulder and a dented stand," Egan told the Telegraph newspaper. "It is a thing of beauty and my daughter had destroyed it, albeit unwittingly. We were all terrified."

Happily, the Academy were able to come to the rescue. Egan's Oscar was promptly admitted to what he refers to as "Oscar A&E" and was repaired within just 15 minutes. "I was stunned by the speed at which the Academy responded," he explained. "I had no idea that they had an Oscar hospital on standby. Apparently this has happened before and thankfully I get to carry home the little golden fella in an un-dented state."

The King's Speech won a total of four Oscars at last month's event, including best director, best actor and best picture. Today, thanks to the Academy, even an expert witness would struggle to identify the suspect statue from its pristine cousins.